BruinThon to hold dance-a-thon at RBHS Feb. 11
Kate Dyer, co-president of Bruinthon, is going over final plans for the dance-a-thon in the club’s weekly meeting.
January 30, 2023
BruinThon is hosting a dance marathon Feb. 11 in RBHS’ main gym to raise funds for the local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital (CMN Hospital), a non-profit organization that works to provide healthcare services and life-saving treatments for children and their families.
It is a three-hour event starting at 2 p.m. where participants can spend time with the CMN families while playing games, making crafts, eating snacks and dancing. People are encouraged to reach out to friends and family for final donations during the dance-a-thon, and at the end of the event, the club will reveal and celebrate the total amount fundraised throughout the year.
Junior Kate Dyer, co-president of BruinThon, said she is excited that the club is able to hold a dance-a-thon this year, considering the difficulties she had in recruiting members after BruinThon was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We didn’t have the numbers to organize the event when [the club] first started off, and there was even a possibility that [BruinThon] was going to get shut down,” Dyer said. “But our club members at the time worked so hard in order to promote the club, and we’ve gotten many more people to join. The drive that we all have allowed us to achieve such great things and continue to make a difference.”
Motivated by his own experiences with health conditions through the people around him, senior Pedro Kfuri, the financial officer for BruinThon, said he joined the club and organized alongside Dyer with the goal of making a difference for families struggling under America’s healthcare system.
“I know of the heavy burden on families dealing with serious health conditions, specifically the mental and financial burden on the kids themselves,” Kfuri said. “I wanted to get involved in BruinThon to make a change for these families, no matter how small that change may be. The American healthcare system is a business — everyone is merely concerned with making the most profit. The problem is a person’s life is not an opportunity for financial gain. Many families, young and old, find healthcare to be unavailable, causing avoidable situations to complicate and, in other cases, lead to death.”
Dyer said participating in BruinThon has taught her the importance of striving to make a change in the lives of other people, starting from when her older sister was a leader for the club to now being co-president with junior Kate Hamilton.
“When I was in middle school, my sister brought me to the [dance-a-thon], and it was an amazing and overall great experience,” Dyer said. “I got to talk to all of the kids and do crafts with them or dance with them on the floor. Even though this is a high school club, it is so inspiring that we are still able to make such a difference in the lives of miracle families.”
For the turnout of the event, Kfuri hopes that as many people as possible will come to participate and have fun with the CMN families. He said he wants to instill in those who do end up attending the true purpose of the club and encourage them to help the organization expand at RBHS.
“We have a great event in the works and hope to see it flourish,” Kfuri said. “I am hopeful that the dance-a-thon shows RBHS as well as Columbia that we are not going to let the pandemic keep us from doing our absolute best to help the families in our nearby hospitals.”
